Honorbound
by Mikkeneko
Summary: Kurogane has always been loyal to his master, Fei Wong Reed. But when the magician captures a wild and defiant creature named Fai and relies on Kurogane to help tame it, this may be the command that pushes him over the edge. No spoilers, AU, Kuro/Fai.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Honorbound  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Spoilers**: AU  
**Summary**: Kurogane's master, Fei Wong Reed, has captured a wild and defiant creature named Fai, and is relying on Kurogane's help to tame it.  
**Author's Notes:** Inspired by the kinkmeme prompt, "Bondage vampire Fai with Kurogane; Kurogane comes to feed him and they end up fucking." I say "inspired by" rather than "written for" because although I got an idea for this situation, it turned out (for reasons that will become apparent) that there was no room for sex in the idea I had. So here is the smut-less fill for this prompt.

* * *

"Tell me," his Master said as they descended the dark, slimy spiral stairs, with the lantern casting shifting pools of light and shadow across the treads. "Which is more true to the ideal of the _samurai -_ he who serves a good and kind master, or he who serves an evil one?"

It was a familiar, much-repeated conversation, and he replied automatically with his eyes still fixed on the treacherous shadows around them: "The one who serves an evil master, of course," he said. "Because it is easy to want to serve a good and kind man, but to be loyal to an evil master is the true fortitude of the samurai."

His master chuckled, and the next swing of the lantern gleamed across the gold-rimmed monocle perched in his eyes, off the strong sharp white of his teeth. "Appropriate as always, Kurogane."

Kurogane just shrugged. He didn't get why his master insisted on engaging him in these odd bouts of wordplay; he was here to serve and protect, not to engage in philosophy. He kept a watchful eye on the shadows, doorways and entrances from which enemies might spring - for his master had many enemies, and not even here, in the very heart of Fei Wong Reed's towering citadel, would he deign to relax his guard.

Besides - there _were_ still threats, even here. He heard the noises from the cell at the end of the hallway as soon as they came to the landing of the stairs; harsh pants and angry cursing, the scuffling of flesh over stone and the rattling of breath. He placed the lantern he carried in a bracket, high enough to spill illumination on the entire scene; then stood aside, hand cautiously placed on his sword-hilt, as Fei Wong Reed unlocked the cell door and swung it wide.

The yellow light spilled on the panting, thrashing figure in the cell beyond. The vampire threw himself against the chains that bound him, upright in the center of the broad cell; the chains stretched tautly to each corner of the room, stranding him and holding him fast in the bare middle of the cell. He raised his head as the door swung open; lamplight gleamed on tangled, bright-gold hair, caught bright-gold eyes in a face twisting with defiance.

The vampire snarled, and flung himself uselessly forward against his restraints. He actually made a few steps headway across the bare floor, and Kurogane dropped into a fighting stance and tightened his grip on his swords as the chains creaked in protest; but his feet could find no purchase on the cold, slimy stone, and he was soon dragged back to the center of the room.

Kurogane watched the prisoner narrowly, as he lay panting limply in his chains. His limbs looked far too slender to house such strength, but Kurogane knew better to underestimate the power housed in that unnatural frame. The vampire shifted futilely from one position to the next, straining either to find a weak spot or to relieve the discomfort of the bonds; but all of his struggles met the same dull resistance.

"No need to worry about it getting loose," Fei Wong Reed said in an offhanded tone. "The chains and the bolts where they attach to the wall are quite well enchanted. When great pressure is put on them, they will give, only to snap back into place with equal force. No brute strength will be sufficient to break them."

"Fuck you," the vampire spat, lifting his face to glare with murderous fury across the impassable gulf.

"It talks?" Kurogane was mildly surprised. The vampire seemed to him much more like a man than the monster he'd expected.

Fei Wong Reed chuckled. "Oh yes, they can talk," he said. "The vampire is a most curious creature, for reasons beyond sheer animal strength. Many of them are quite cunning, and some even have crude magics of their own. Of course, unlike a king predator which culls the prey population of the weak and unworthy, most vampires do not even kill their prey; so they are more like parasites, weak and bloated blights upon humanity."

"It takes a lot of nerve for you to refer to my kind as a blight," the vampire said in a low, menacing voice. "How many thousands have you killed? How many lands and temples have you swallowed up and broken down in your mad search for power? You're nothing more than a carrion bird, not even fit to wear a man's skin!"

"I have long sought to capture some vampire specimens, for study," Fei Wong Reed continued, ignoring the vampire's torrent of abuse entirely. "They are quite powerful in their own limited ways, and they have a crude elemental power even over more sophisticated spells. If it could be tamed, it would be quite an asset to add to my forces."

"I'll see you rot in hell first, monster," the vampire spat.

Kurogane glanced over at his master. He seemed to be waiting for some kind of response; not from the prisoner, but from him. Obligingly, Kurogane answered, "How do you mean to tame him, then?"

"The same way you tame any other simple beast," Fei Wong Reed said, waving one hand dismissively. "Through its hunger. The vampire feeds off the blood of human prey; which I, as a generous master, am willing to supply in exchange for obedience. Kurogane, present yourself to the vampire for a meal."

Kurogane's thoughts darkened in resentment to the order, but with a mental effort, he cleared them. His place was not to question orders, but to serve his master in whatever capacity was required of him. Without taking his hand away from the hilt of his sword, he stepped forward into the cell, and extended the wrist of his left hand to within the vampire's range.

Golden eyes widened as Kurogane approached, focusing on him and not his master for the first time since they'd stepped off the stairwell. Kurogane felt a sudden cold, cleansing shock wash over him with that piercing regard, as though he'd been hit with a draft of fresh, icy wind. He tensed and drew back slightly, but discipline held him in place.

Those unnatural golden eyes held his for a long moment, but then the vampire turned away, and a bitter laugh fell from his lips. "How _generous_," he said in a scathing tone, "to offer me a meal with poison embedded in it. It would suit you well if I fell for that, wouldn't it? You know perfectly well that the truest control can only be held over one who's given himself to it willingly."

Fei Wong Reed's expression darkened, and a scowl replaced the smug smile on his face. His hands tightened on the staff for a moment, then relaxed with a seeming conscious effort. "Perhaps you are not as dumb and simple as I'd first thought," he said, then managed a chuckle. "It is all for the best. You will make a much more useful tool once I have broken your will. Willing or not, you _will_ serve me."

"I'd rather die," the vampire hissed, his golden eyes slit-pupilled and feral in the lamplight.

Fei Wong Reed signaled Kurogane; the latter dropped his arm, and moved back to his customary place behind his master's shoulder. The wizard regarded his captive with a cold look. "Grand words and defiant gestures are easy to make," he said, "but I have faced many such would-be rebels, and I have found that in the end, they always prefer to live than to die. You will, too. In time."

With that, he turned and left the cell, his dark cloak sending flaring shadows across the stone walls. Kurogane followed after him, and took the lantern with him when he left, leaving the prisoner behind in the darkness.

* * *

Midnight in Fei Wong Reed's castle; the master had locked himself in the tower, preparing for an all-night ritual from which he had explicitly forbidden Kurogane's presence. So he was back in his quarters, a spartan accommodation with little more than a cot to sleep on and a kit for maintaining his equipment. The ascetic soul of a warrior did not require more.

He remembered his mother's voice, coming back to him dimly over the span of so many years. "Which is more true to the soul of the samurai?" she'd murmured. "The one who serves a good and kind master, or he who serves an evil one?" He could clearly hear her voice reciting the ancient riddle; although he couldn't, for the life of him, remember her saying the next line.

It had been days since the interview with the vampire in the cellar, days of Kurogane shadowing his master's side during his normal duties. They had not visited the dungeon again, and his master had not so much as mentioned the captured vampire. Yet somehow, he found he couldn't forget about the dark scene in that cell. Kurogane stared into the darkness of his tiny room, seeing not the unfinished stone of the walls but a different stone chamber, far below.

The vision persisted in his mind, of the slender figure thrashing back and forth against the chains, swaying like a slender tree in a high wind. That motion - the swaying movement, more than any word or voice or feature of the vampire - would not leave his mind. It reminded him of something, something he ought not to have forgotten, although he couldn't remember what.

No doubt his master had his own plans for the vampire, and it was none of his business what those plans were. It was none of his concern unless the vampire became a threat to his master's safety, or - no matter how unlikely - an ally…

Abruptly Kurogane stood, and thrust his sword into his belt. Without even being quite conscious of what he was doing, he found himself moving towards the door of his chambers, his steps taking him along the corridor and to the stairwell leading down.

* * *

He hung the lantern on the bracket just as before, but this time, when he swung open the rusty metal cell door, the figure in the cell he opened on was as different from the proud, defiant creature that Kurogane had first scene as could be imagined. The vampire hung slack in the chains, slumped against his bonds as if too tired to stand any more, although there was not enough slack in them to allow him to sit or kneel. The light still gleamed off the honey-gold stands of hair, but the face he lifted into the light was exhausted and dull, worn with fatigue and hunger. The lines of starvation, of hopelessness left a cold feeling in Kurogane's belly as though someone had slipped a sword into his guts, although he did not know why he should feel this way.

A spark still remained in those golden eyes, though, as the pupils constricted in response to the light and he blinked Kurogane into focus. "Well, if it isn't the master's little pet," he said, and his voice was hoarse and gravelly. "Come to gawk some more? Or did he send you down with some new instructions to torment me?"

Kurogane stood still, looking at the vampire, saying nothing. He wasn't sure how to answer; he wasn't even sure why he'd come down here in the first place. As a samurai, his purpose in life was to serve his master and carry out his orders; without that guidance, he was adrift, groping for the next step in the dark.

As Kurogane failed to respond, the vampire opened his eyes a little wider, seemed to brace himself and stood straighter in his chains. "Where is he, anyway?" he said, his voice a little stronger.

"Above," Kurogane said. A direct question, he could answer.

"Did he send you to his dirty work on his behalf, then?" The vampire's angry sarcasm was returning, and a sneer twisted his lips as he dropped his eyes and looked into the corner of the cell. "Too busy conquering worlds and destroying souls to even bother doing a little hands-on torture of his own guests?"

"He ordered me to feed you."

A bitter laugh burst from the vampire's lips. "Already? It's only been…" He trailed off, a flash of consternation on his face as he tried to fight off the temporal distortion induced by the perpetual darkness and isolation.

"Not now. Four days ago," Kurogane said, somewhat irritated by the creature's denseness. He'd _been_ right there when his master had given the order.

"What? But that's not - " The vampire's gaze snapped up to Kurogane's face, golden eyes widening; once again that strange rushing chill washed over him, and the eyes widened even further, lips parted on a gasp. "Does he even know that you're down here?"

_Yes_ would be a lie; but _no_ would be dangerously close admitting that he was disobeying his master's orders. Kurogane stood silent.

The vampire took a deep, unsteady breath; it rasped against the stone walls, and once again Kurogane felt his belly squirm with discomfort which he could not name. "You shouldn't be able to do this," he whispered. "He has you enchanted to the gills with spells of compulsion and control. Do you even realize that?"

That news was a surprise to Kurogane, although when he thought about it, maybe it shouldn't have been. Fei Wong Reed _was_ a master magician, after all; his castle was filled with hundreds of minor spells or enchantments used in his studies or in the conveniences of daily life. There was no reason he should not have placed such spells on his bodyguard, too; which, after all, was nothing more than another kind of tool. Such was his right; what of it? He shrugged, and didn't reply.

"Why are you here?" the vampire asked finally. His voice was oddly intent, slightly strangled as if by a struggle between hope and fear.

Kurogane grasped onto the one line of stability that he knew. "He ordered me to feed you," he said. He stepped forward, slowly as though he were wading against heavy molasses. When he extended his hand towards the vampire, his wrist bared for access, he realized to his great surprise that his fingers were trembling.

The vampire made a little, desperate sound; his nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply, and his spine arched as he strained against the chains, leaning helplessly towards the source of what he craved. His throat worked as he swallowed, and Kurogane could almost feel the hunger coming off him in waves, the tormenting thirst.

He licked his lips, then tore his gaze away to meet Kurogane's eyes again. "You have to understand," he whispered hoarsely. "You have to understand, before - before I do anything. It's not our way to enslave people, to take what is not freely offered. That's the only thing that separates us from _true_ monsters, and true power can only come with willing consent. But you, you _can't_ consent. There are so many compulsion spells in your bl - blood - right now, I'm surprised you can even tie your shoes. I don't even know what's going to happen if I drink from that, but this might be the only chance to -"

"I _am_ consenting," Kurogane replied gruffly. "When I entered my master's service, I gave my oath to serve him of my own free will." He'd always known that, reminded himself of that daily any time his master's orders became too onerous. "No one forces me to do anything I don't want to, least of all you."

The vampire's eyes flittered shut, the skin of his eyelids looking bruised and shadowed against his fair skin. "Then I accept," he murmured. "Even if you don't truly understand - I know you don't. But I have no other choice. I accept the bond."

He opened his eyes, and looked at Kurogane with a new regard, his eyes dark and his expression somehow predatory in a way that had nothing to do with physical hunger. "What's your name?" he asked, and his voice was soft, with a strangely alluring undercurrent.

"Kurogane," he said, and the name tasted somehow odd in his voice, metal and strange.

"Kurogane," the vampire repeated, in a tone that sent a clear thrill up Kurogane's spine; warm, not cold and piercing like before. "Come closer."

Hesitantly, Kurogane stepped forward. "Closer," Fai whispered. It was hard to take the next step; he felt like he was pushing against a wall, a rubber wall that resisted his force and tried to push him backwards, out of the cell, back up the stairs to his master's side. This was not… his duty, his honor as a warrior, his oath…

He heard the raspy sound of the vampire's breathing, echoing in the cold dark cell, and it made something snap deep inside of him. He steeled himself, clenched his teeth and pushed forward, his hands settling awkwardly on the vampire's shoulder. This close, he was looking down into his face; he was actually quite a bit taller than the vampire. Hesitantly - he hadn't been told, but it felt _right -_ he folded the slender, bound body in his arms, pulled him against his chest.

"My name," the vampire breathed against the skin of his neck, "is _Fai." _And he bit down.

Kurogane gasped, his arms around the vampire suddenly clutching tight as he staggered, the enchanted chains biting into his skin. He'd thought the vampire's attention a potent, flensing thing when those golden eyes had regarded him; now he was under the full force of the creature's focus. The piercing pain of the fangs that punctured his neck were almost an afterthought, as the wild magic of the creature's nature ripped through him.

The vision came to him once more of the branches of the trees, thrashing back and forth in the wind. A body struggling desperately against chains; a woman, dressed in the flowing garb of a miko and with her long, silk-soft hair flying in wild strands about her face. The vision wavered in his mind's eye, still remote and blurry; and though he reached and strained for it, there was still something that kept him from making the final connection.

The vampire's fangs were still buried at his neck, sucking voraciously at his blood, the magical bond between them drawing the enchantments out of his veins. He thought he heard a ripping sound from somewhere in the back of his mind, somewhere his own eyes could never see - felt things deeply rooted in his mind giving way under the force of the blast. And then the full clarity of understanding burst on him, filling him with a cold clammy horror; his knees gave way underneath him, and as he collapsed to the floor of the slimy stone cell he threw his head back and screamed.

He remembered everything now. He remembered his homeland, bright and brassy in the summer sun, with fields of rice waiting to be harvested that glowed with their own verdant light. He remembered his mother, beautiful and powerful but always so kind, and the feel of her long silken fall of hair. He remembered his father, strong and energetic and laughing as he bounced his young son shrieking high into the air. Remembered sitting at his knee and drinking in gruff words about honor and loyalty, lessons about duty and responsibility and the way of the true _samurai_.

He remembered the night that Fei Wong Reed had come, bursting through the barrier between worlds at the head of a horde of demons. Then all the green fields had withered and burned, all the hazy sun and sky blocked out by towers of choking smoke. He'd fallen back to the inner sanctum with his mother, after his father and all their retainers had been killed. He remembered the last-ditch desperate defense by the gilded shrine doors, cracked and scorched and buckling around the bars.

He remembered Fei Wong Reed entering the sanctum at last, and in his desperation and despair, he had made an offer to him. He would submit to the magician, serve and obey him, if only Fei Wong Reed would agree to spare his mother. _Spare her!_ And indeed he had kept his word, he had _spared_ her right to these very cold, dark, slimy cells where they now stood, to sicken and die in wretched captivity!

Then came the bindings, and the geas, and the lessons, which slowly shut down his memories of his bright home; smothered his anger and seething hatred for the monster who'd destroyed his world; stifled all the lessons about honor and duty that this parents had taught him and leaving only a hollow shell of thoughtless obedience and empty loyalty. Until he'd forgotten his very name, Suwa no You-ou, heir to the demesne and stewardship of all the people he was sworn to - if not to protect, than surely to avenge. Until all that was left was Kurogane, mindless and listless menial, brutal killing machine.

Memories of the last few years flashed over his mind in a cascade of flash-frozen horror; how he'd sold himself to the very man who'd murdered his father and destroyed his country, how he'd prostituted the skills of swordsmanship that his father had taught him, into the service of this _monster_ in man's clothing. All for nothing, for less than nothing! His mother had coughed herself to death in a cell barely two doors down from this one - strangled by the relentless damp and cold - while he'd watched silently from the corridor beyond, knowing nothing, _doing_ nothing, _feeling nothing! _He had failed her, betrayed her - failed them all!

He gradually regained awareness of his surroundings, on his knees in the cold, stinking cell. He felt warm, sticky liquid dribbling down his collarbone, from the throbbing wound on his neck. He could hear his own harsh panting in his ears, whimpers of anguish leaking from his throat. "Kill him," he was whispering, ranting without even realizing he was talking. "Kill him, I'll kill him…"

Fai whimpered in pain, and he realized from the throbbing numbness in his arms that he was clutching painfully tight, crushing chains against trapped flesh and pinched nerves. He relaxed his hold with a great effort, felt the other's shudder of relief. He pushed himself slowly to his feet, swaying with a vertigo and numbness that came and went, and found he had to keep his trembling hands on Fai's shoulders for balance.

"Kurogane," Fai whispered, and as he raised his face back to the light of the lamp, he saw with a shock that the once golden eyes had changed to a deep, cerulean blue, so intense that they seemed to glow in the shadows. "I am yours to command."

It was no longer possible to think of Fai as a 'vampire' or a 'creature'. He had broken the enchantment and freed Youou's mind, and he owed him a great debt of honor for that. He was not a monster but a man, brave and defiant and full-souled. A man who'd been captured and abused, humiliated and enslaved by Fei Wong Reed for his convenience and amusement. Just like _he _had been. He shook with rage, remembered and renewed, and growled in his throat a vile oath against the wizard and all of his kind.

"Bastard," he said, sharp angry words punctuating the silence. He pushed away from Fai and stumbled back a step, clenching his hand around the hilt of his sword. His limbs still rang with numbness, but muscle memory quickly took over as he drew Ginryuu in one fluid movement and brought the sword whistling around.

The chains _were_ enchanted, quite powerfully so; but Ginryuu was forged with runes of strength and power and keen edge just for this, for the very purpose banishing evil magic along with demonic bodies. The spells sparked brightly, and the metal links of the chain burst apart in a sudden red-white glow. One, two, three, and then they were all loose from the bolts in the walls and he was pulling the chains away from Fai's body and limbs, exposing raw red marks where the skin had been ground away by his struggles.

Yet he was not struggling now. Instead, he leaned against Youou's frame as the restriction of the bonds fell away, his hands stroking tentatively up and down Youou's arms. He himself was not the same man he'd been an hour before, but he was fairly sure that his memories did not quite match up with the face and manner of the man before him. The worst ravages of hunger had eased from Fai's face, lending it a new softness around the edges; but more than that, his entire demeanor had altered. Gone was the proud, half-wild defiance of the man who had cursed Fei Wong Reed and sworn a contract with Kurogane; instead, he had taken on a soft and submissive quality as he looked up into Youou's face with the purest adoration. "Kuro-sama," he whispered, his voice a purring caress.

He stiffened, hearing cold metal and evil enchantments in that hated name. "Don't call me that," he growled, turning his face away.

"But it's what you are," Fai murmured, pushing himself onto his tiptoes to bring his lips to Youou's ear. "My lord and master, Kuro-sama. Would you prefer that I call you something else? Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Whatever you ask, I'll do it."

"You could start by calling me -" Youou started to say, then stopped short, an uneasy chill raising the hair on the back of his neck as he stared down into Fai's dreamy expression. He knew nothing about vampires, but he knew that something had happened between them; something had changed. Was this the 'bond' that Fai had spoken of, when he'd consented to take Kurogane's blood? Did this sudden infatuation and docility happen every time a vampire entered into a contract with a human? Or was it…

Cryptic statements which had flown over his head the other day now fell into place; by drinking his blood, Fai had drawn the suppressing, compelling magics into himself. No doubt this was what Fei Wong Reed had wanted all along, but instead of forming an unwavering devotion to the magician, Fai had fixated on _him_. Entirely by accident - he hadn't even known what he'd been agreeing to - Youou had managed to enslave Fai as thoroughly as Fei Wong Reed had meant to, as thoroughly as the dark magician had chained him.

The thought made bile rise in his throat. At the same time he had no choice but to accept it, no more than Fai had any choice but to drink from his blood, knowing full well what it would do to him. He knew next to nothing of magic, and even less about vampires; he didn't know how to break the bond, or release Fai from his compulsion. If anyone would know… it would be the wizard, Youou decided, and a wolfish grin crept over his face. He wouldn't want to divulge that information easily, he thought, but perhaps a sword to the throat would persuade him.

In the meantime, he needed Fai's help in taking the dark magician down, in completing vengeance for Suwa and for his parents. "I have one thing I need to do," he said. "And quickly. Help me to kill him, the wizard, Fei Wong Reed."

"Of course, Master," Fai said without blinking. "He will be a formidable opponent, but now that I am free and recently fed, my magic should be more than enough to get you close enough to strike." His blue eyes gleamed in the firelight, and his fingers curled; long, pearly claws unsheathed themselves from his fingertips. The sight of those talons reassured Youou as much as they unnerved him; at least he wouldn't be leading his new companion into battle unarmed.

Fei Wong Reed was locked in his tower high overhead, engrossed in his rituals; Youou could only hope that he had sensed nothing that went on in the dungeon, that they could still catch him by surprise. One way or another, though, he still had to go, to face him. Squaring his shoulders, he turned and walked out of the cell, Fai ghosting along beside him like a shadow.

"I wonder," he said, turning to glance back at the vampire as he mounted the stairs, "which is more true to the ideal of the _samurai?_ He who serves a good and kind master, or he who serves an evil one?"

Fai blinked up at him; his expression was demure, despite the lethal threat of the long, razor-sharp claws that extended from his fingers. "You're asking me, Master?" he asked.

"Yes!" He couldn't help but wonder; Fai was no samurai, but it seemed that Youou was to be his master now for good or for ill. He desperately wondered which he would be. Did Fai know the ancient riddle, did he know the proper response? Would he just tell his new master what he wanted to hear?

Fai tilted his head; there was a calculating intelligence in his eyes that could not be completely smothered by blue adoration. "I would think," he said after a minute, "that the _true_ samurai is the one who _slays_ the evil man."

Caught off guard by the unexpected response, Youou nearly tripped over the next stair; but the irony of the situation reasserted himself, and he chuckled darkly. "You know, you may be right about that," he said. "Come on."

Together, they mounted the stairs to the tower, and all of what waited within.

* * *

~end.


	2. Epilogue: Where Are They Now?

This was written for bottan in response to my Timestamp/Where Are They Now meme, where people could choose a story and request to see what happens five years later. I figured I might as well post it up as an epilogue here too.

* * *

Youou watched anxiously as the ritual completed, as the last hints of blue drained from Fai's eyes. He'd been warned this would happen, but it was still startling to see the familiar sky-clear color be replaced with the brilliant strange of gold. The expression on his face seemed to drain away with it, the normal happy glow that lit his face when he looked at Youou being replaced with a blank wary mask.

"There," he said abruptly, standing and pulling the small toad statue the Witch had given him out of Fai's hands. The stone was stained dark with Fai's blood - necessary, to transfer the spell from his blood to the talisman - but Youou felt a sudden urge to throw it away, smash it against a nearby tree. Only the Witch's warning about what would happen if the magic were released stayed his hand. "It's done. You're free."

He thought he'd been prepared for this moment, but how could he be, really? He had no idea how Fai would react, to being released of the magic that had held him in thrall for three fucking years. He knew he'd been pissed, when it had been him. But he was different from that bastard Fei Wong Reed. Wasn't he?

Fai didn't say anything, at least not at first. He drew in on himself, rubbing his hands along his arms as though he were cold. "Feels... strange," he said. His teeth chattered.

"I'll get you a blanket," Youou offered immediately. He came back with the blanket, draping it over the vampire's shoulders; Fai blinked up at him in dazed surprise. Those gold eyes, they still looked so wrong in his face... no, Youou berated himself; the blue had been wrong. This was Fai's true self now, the first time that the two of them had ever truly come face to face.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out, unable to bear the straining tension any more. "Can you - Do you hate me?"

"Wha?" Fai shook his head in incomprehension.

"For - never mind," Youou said. It was obviously too soon to press his contrition on Fai, who was in no state to absolve him. "Never mind. Get some sleep, Fai."

With that proclamation, Youou turned and walked away, seating himself on the other side of the campfire.

"Youou."

He heard a noise behind him, and did a double-take. Fai had stood and come around the campfire - of course, he didn't have to obey Youou's thoughtless order to sleep.

"Why would I hate you?" Fai said again, his voice clearer and gentler than before.

"Because..." Youou looked down at the ground, his hands gripping the stone between them so tightly as to be painful. "I enslaved you," he said, his voice as harsh and bleak as the rock he held.

Fai sighed, and came to sit beside Youou, stumbling slightly as he lowered himself; so unlike the vampire's usual pale grace.

"Youou," Fai began after a few minutes; to order his thoughts, perhaps. "I know I... answered many of your questions about my people; who we are, how we live. But there are many questions you never would have thought to ask, and so I never told you.

"Thralldom is nothing new to my people, Youou. It's in our nature - the nature of the bond between us and our prey, between masters and mates. It... we have spent hundreds of years refining our culture, our customs, to regulate the bonds of control and consent among us."

Youou couldn't help but flush at the 'mates' comment, remembering some nights on the trail - cold, lonely nights when he hadn't been able to resist Fai's seductive entreaties any more.

"What you think of as 'slavery' isn't inherently offensive or bad among my people," Fai continued. "There's nothing evil about being a master, and nothing humiliating about being a slave. You, a human.. You're not one of my people, you don't know our customs and ways, but you were... a good master, respectful and kind. And I entered into thralldom to you willingly, knowing what the consequences would be.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Youou," he said, meeting Youou's eyes levelly with his own hard, golden gaze. "I am not sorry that I spent three years as yours."

He stopped and waited in silence. Youou took a deep breath, mustering his own determination - this was something he'd thought of long before, but never said aloud. "Let me - repay you," he said.

"What?" Fai blinked, bemused and startled.

"You have your ways. I have mine," Youou said, forcing himself to look Fai in the eye. "And debts and obligations must be repaid. You spent three years as my slave, among humans - now it's my turn to spend three years as yours, among your people."

He sat there, waiting for an answer, until his nerve almost broke - and then Fai laughed.

It was at once a sound that was strange and unfamiliar; he looked up in shock to see Fai's gold eyes dancing in the firelight. "Oh, Youou," Fai said. "You have no idea what you're offering. To live among my people, as my thrall -"

"I'm not afraid," Youou insisted, clenching his fist. "Besides," he said more quietly. "My home is destroyed, my enemy is dead - I have nowhere else to go."

Fai had begun to speak, but then he stopped, closing his mouth and giving Youou a piercing look. "Well then, Youou," he said, "let us travel together a little bit longer, at least long enough to reach my home. When you know more about what you are asking, then we'll see."

Finally he stood up, and reached down to take Youou's hands, pull him uncompromisingly to his feet. Youou followed, eyeing Fai warily; this was a new man, no longer subservient or docile, with his own will and his own agenda.

Youou thought he could get used to this.

* * *

~end.

Author's notes: In Fai's vampire culture, exchanging mutual periods of thralldom is akin to a vow of marriage. *grin* Which is why he's saying that Kurogane doesn't know what he's asking.


End file.
